[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
[May 3, 1991]
[Pages 465-467]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to Cochran Gardens Community Members in St. Louis, Missouri
May 3, 1991

    Thank you, Governor, and thank all of you. Bertha was telling me 
you've been out there in the rain for 2 hours. That's beyond the call of 
duty, as we say over there--as General Schwarzkopf would say. But let me 
just say how pleased I am to be here. Bertha asked about Barbara Bush, 
and I wish she was with me today; she wishes she were here, too. But 
she's doing an awful lot to help kids learn to read. And I hope all of 
you kids here today will take a lesson on that and do your level-best in 
reading and in studying.
    Bertha was telling me about the wonderful spirit here. And I wish 
I'd heard the drum and bugle corps in action. Maybe we'll get to hear 
them when we finish here. But we congratulate all of you over there.
    Let me salute our two Senators, Senator Bond and Senator Danforth. 
And of course, I'm delighted to have with me here today a man who has 
been here before, who lives this ideal of home ownership, tenant 
management, and that's Jack Kemp, our Secretary of HUD. What a job he's 
doing.
    On the way over here, we passed an extraordinary place, that new 
children's playground. And where once was called Little Nam, a war zone 
of drugs and decay, you've created a field of dreams. And where dope 
dealers once roamed, children now can be children. And they can learn, 
and they can laugh, and they can play. And you deserve great credit for 
giving these kids hope.
    You know, people who have never seen housing development don't 
understand how significant a small playground can be. But this 
playground is just one of your many achievements. You've shown an entire 
nation what great things people accomplish when they get an opportunity 
to take control of their own communities, when men and women seize their 
homes and streets from drug dealers, when we empower people and not the 
bureaucracy.
    What a contrast to the dismal legacy of projects like Pruitt-Igoe. 
Think of how Pruitt-Igoe suffocated this community, attracted crime and 
sheltered drugs and shattered hope. To me--to many of us here--that 
vacant tract symbolizes the failure of

[[Page 466]]

the past.
    And today, more and more Americans know that the solutions of the 
1960's can't meet the challenges of the nineties, that a system that 
puts government bureaucracy in charge of everything leaves no room for 
individual dignity--the dignity that Bertha's fighting for, that all of 
you believe in--a system that warehouses people, strips them of their 
humanity. I'm here to say, if the system's not helping build a better 
life, then we must change the system.
    Last November I signed the National Affordable Housing Act, the most 
radical departure in Federal housing policy in two decades. And I want 
to thank Kit Bond, Senator Bond, who serves on the Senate Banking 
Committee, who worked hard with Secretary Kemp to get that act through 
the Congress. Its core is HOPE--you see the sign right there: 
Homeownership and Opportunity for People Everywhere. HOPE moves policy 
in a new direction. It lets public housing residents like you manage 
your property and eventually own your property.
    Although I'm proud that under our administration the number of 
residents groups training to become resident managers has leaped from 13 
to 100, we've got to do more. Today--now, listen to these numbers--three 
million people live in public housing. Yet barely 9,000 units--barely 
9,000--are managed by their residents. I call on Congress to give us 
full funding--$855 million in fiscal '92. We don't just want a piece of 
the program; we want the whole darn thing: one million new low- and 
moderate-income homeowners by the end of 1992.
    I also would like to announce two new initiatives today, initiatives 
that honor people's dignity and ability. The first is the Enterprise 
Zone and Jobs-Creation Act of 1991, which I'm proud to say will be 
introduced in Congress next week by our own Senator John Danforth and by 
Senator Joe Lieberman. This act would plant the seeds for a real urban 
revival. It designates up to 50 enterprise zones over a 4-year period, 
one of which could very well end up right here in St. Louis.
    Now, you all understand the concept beside enterprise zones: They 
convert poor neighborhoods into centers of work, centers of opportunity, 
and they ensure that the most successful entrepreneur in a 
neighborhood--ensure that that entrepreneur will not be a crack dealer. 
It will be that a man or woman who starts a business, demonstrates the 
value of hard work, offers jobs to local residents.
    You also know that you can't start up a business without money. This 
bill also eliminates capital gains taxes on the development in the zone. 
It tells potential investors: Put your money right here; put the jobs 
right here. And that's where I need your help.
    It also gives these enterprise zones priority as a free-trade area 
status. That would let businesses in the zone import materials duty-free 
if the products are sold abroad. Our Tax Code ought to promote growth. 
It ought to promote investment and entrepreneurship and opportunity 
throughout the land. And that's why I have tried repeatedly to get the 
Congress to cut the capital gains tax. That tax is a tax on the American 
dream. It is a tax on growth. And we ought to get rid of it so you can 
have more jobs and opportunity right here in this very area.
    You know, the Enterprise and Jobs-Creation Act of '91 makes it 
possible to turn communities that were once riddled with despair and 
isolation into neighborhoods that are greenlined for growth and jobs and 
opportunity. And in that spirit, I'm proud to announce a second 
initiative: the Community Opportunity Act of 1991, which we will 
transmit to Congress today. This legislation rejects the idea that 
Washington knows best. It challenges localities like yours to develop 
``community opportunity systems.'' And these would enable poor citizens 
to tailor Federal programs to meet their actual needs. The bill also 
lets Federal officials set aside regulations that might otherwise 
prevent citizens from devising programs that work.
    This act shifts power from the heavy hand of the state to the 
dedicated hands of the people. I have enough confidence in the American 
people to believe that they will create new hope and opportunity, that 
they will devise new and effective solutions

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if they are just given a chance. You don't want a crutch. You want a 
ladder, a ladder of opportunity to a better future. And that is what we 
are determined to provide.
    Most Members of Congress, you know, say they want to revive our 
cities. And now we can test them. We can put them to the test. I call on 
the Congress to support our HOPE program fully. I call on the Congress 
to pass the Enterprise Zone and Jobs-Creation Act of 1991. And I call on 
the Congress to enact the Community Opportunity Act of 1991 right now.
    Bertha, Bertha Gilkey--I've got this quote of hers: ``We don't want 
to be taken care of; we want to take care of ourselves.'' That is, to be 
treated like human beings, not numbers in a housing project.
    And people all across this country said: Yes, we want dignity, we 
want independence, we want responsibility, and we want to own our own 
homes, and we want to control our destinies. And I would say to the 
Congress: Congress, you ought to start thinking anew. Give the people a 
chance now, and pass this new legislation, and don't go back to the old 
answers that have failed the people of St. Louis year in and year out. 
It's time to think anew. So, I am convinced that together we can build 
upon your success. We can offer new opportunity, new optimism, new hope 
to people condemned to daily bleakness and hardship.
    So, please join me. You do have some power in your hands. Get ahold 
of your Congressman; convince him to think anew and give these new ideas 
a chance. Because Bertha is right: homeownership builds dignity. 
Homeownership offers people a real bite of the apple, a chance for the 
great American dream to come to everybody.
    Thank you all, and God bless you, and may God bless our great 
country, the United States of America. Thank you very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 12:40 p.m. in the 
                        Cochran Gardens Community Center. In his 
                        remarks, he referred to Gov. John D. Ashcroft of 
                        Missouri; Bertha Gilkey, president of the 
                        National Tenant Union and chairperson of the 
                        Cochran Gardens Tenant Management Corp.; Gen. H. 
                        Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the U.S. forces 
                        in the Persian Gulf; Senators Christopher S. 
                        Bond, John C. Danforth, and Joseph I. Lieberman; 
                        and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
                        Jack Kemp.